Concorde

Concorde was a supersonic airliner created by an Angle French consortium. Capable of speeds above Mach 2, it was used on the UK-US routes, but only by French and British airlines.

Concorde was a supersonic airliner created by an Angle French consortium. Capable of speeds above Mach 2, it was commonly used on the UK-US routes, but only flown by French and British airlines.

A distinctive white delta-winged aircraft she had several unique features, including a dipping nose to allow pilots to see when landing her. Widely considered to be one of the most beautiful aircraft in the skies, she was in service for over thirty years. Grounded following the only crash in her history, Concorde remains one of the safest aircraft of all time.

About Concorde

The Speedbird

Concorde

1976-2003

Concorde was the world's first and so far last, civilian supersonic transport. Created by an Anglo-French alliance, she was designed for fast transit to far away locales.

In practice she flew largely on the London to New York routes, and was flown by Air France and British Airways. Despite her great cost, they found there were compensations to having the world's only supersonic airliner flying for them - not least begin able to have the day's newspapers from Britain and the US in the other country for the morning's flights!

Considered to be one of the most beautiful aircraft ever built, she had several unique features, such as the swept delta wings and dipping nose that enabled the pilots to land her.

Nicknamed the "Delta lady" and "Beautiful Bird" she had the best safety record of any commercial airline and was eventually grounded after the only crash in her entire career. Still sorely missed, restoration campaigns are underway - not helped by the desire of certain British authorities to saw her wings off and sell her to Dubai. Contrast the French who kept one of theirs in flying order just in case.

Facts and Figures

The High Tech Wonder

Concorde's white livery was striking but not purely cosmetic. When a Pepsi promotion painted one blue the aircraft had to limit its speed as the surface heated up from air friction.

Capable of cruising at speeds over Mach 2, Concorde was for many years the fastest way to get from Europe to America. It usually carried over a hundred passengers, and legend has it British Airways also loaded its first flight of the day each way with newspapers, so passengers could get the papers for the other continent before any other airline.

A tribute by youtube user thawk6. It begins with facts and figures, and moves onto the plane. Personally concorde fans should watch it just for 0:46 - the lady knows how to make an entrance!

Flying Concorde

An interview with a Concorde Captain

"When you take off from New York in the dark, and see the sun rise in the west, you know you are doing something slightly different."

- Brian Walpole, Concorde Captain

What's it like to fly supersonic? Captain Brian Walpole talks about his experiences, including the incident when he barrel rolled Concorde, and what it was like flying faster than a rifle bullet.

End of an Era

The Paris Crash

Concorde was grounded after the first and only accident in its entire career. A piece of metal came off a poorly maintained US DC-10 on take-off, and when Concorde used the runway it flipped up and into the fuel tank. The plane's engine exploded and it landed on a building killing all on board.

This was the first and only accident in Concorde's entire operational history. It remains one of the safest aircraft ever built.

Conspiracy theorists had a field day. Just as the US tried to ban the Concorde at birth, they said, now they have succeeded in killing them. The problem with that view is that the British Airways Concordes continued flying for some months afterwards, before being grounded. However it appears a mix of operational cost and business knowledge - letting Virgin buy them would have been to hand a huge business advantage to a rival - did more to eventually ground Concorde than any conspiracy.

No matter what may be said about certain political lobbies - rarely the friends of aviation - the US aviation fans loved her. This video shows her last departure from JFK and the radio transmissions between the tower and BA Concorde Speedbird 2. It is not often an ATC Tower admits "We're gonna miss you."

Tribute to Concorde

Adieu Supersonic

An absolutely stunning tribute to the Concorde by German Youtube user xJamesKirkx. Covering the full lifespan of Concorde in just four minutes, the flights of the prototype through to simulations of the crash that grounded it and its final flight, this is probably one of the best tributes to Concorde.

Check his channel for more flightsim concorde videos.

Tony Benn on Concorde

At the start and the end

The rebel MP who fought his own Labour government to prevent Concorde being cancelled gives his opinions on the last flight on Concorde and pays tribute to the engineers.

Flight Sims for Concorde

Concorde SST in Simulation

As her many pilots found out, flying Concorde was something special.

For those of us who aren't pilots the closest we can get to flying concorde, or sadly now flying in Concorde, is a Flight simulator.

A range are available for many of the flight simulators on the market. However these can be difficult to get in the US, and a better option may be to order them from Amazon.co.uk. Although these may cost extra for shipping, Amazon.co.uk has a good stock of flight sims, including several that are not available in the US. As these are PC games, as long as your PC has the right spec you can run them.

Please click the link to view the simulators available from Amazon.co.uk:

*The package includes a 160-page printed manual and a tutorial on the CD *Fully animated parts *Accurate flight model with re-heat effect and an authentic version of Concorde's unique INS *Four contemporary and classic British Airways and Air France